Russian President Vladimir Putin rolled out the red carpet to 19 heads of state from 9 members of BRIC+, along with representatives of more than 30 countries that have either formally applied to join or expressed their interest, to the 16th Summit in the southwestern city of Kazan, Russia. The 3-day Summit aims to galvanise multipolarity as a counterweight to US hegemony. A key issue is the roll-out of an alternative payment system that will challenge the US dollar and Western economic monopoly.
As a marker of shifting global governance away from the so-called ‘rules-based order’, days before the Kazan Summit, China and India reached an amicable agreement over their long-running border dispute. And there are already ongoing strategic projects, such as China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the Saudi-Iran rapprochement, brokered by Beijing. UN Secretary-General António Guterres is also in attendance.
The BRICS bloc gained much more clout in the global economy in January when 4 new strategically important nations officially joined – Iran,
Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia remains non-committal, and Argentina withdrew after the election of Western-leaning President Javier Milei.
BRICS+ has some pretty impressive stats:
– 44% of the world’s crude oil production
– 46% of the world’s population
– 37.3% of global GDP (based on purchasing power parity)
As the Western-led financial world sanctions itself into oblivion, the future – as Malcolm X said – “belongs to those who prepare for it today.”
Sources:
https://brics-russia2024.ru/en/docs/
https://firstlinesecurities.com/brics-caribbean-investments/
https://www.rogtecmagazine.com/brics-accounts-for-almost-45-of-global-oil-reserves-after-expansion/
https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDPD@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD/CHN/BRA/ZAF/RUS
https://www.kas.de/en/brics-plus
https://www.scmp.com/topics/brics
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/what-to-know-about-the-brics-summit
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russia-war-ukraine-vladimir-putin-brics-leaders-kazan-rcna176351